Improvement in corsets



GILBERT.

, Corsets.

Patented Aug. 18, 1874.

1 16.2. FIGS; 7

WITNESSES 52m UNITED STATES.

PATENT QFFICE.

THOMAS S. GILBERT, OF BIRMINGHAM, CONNECTICUT.

v IMPROVEMENT IN CORSETS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 154,238, dated August 18, 1874; application filed July 17, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that'I, THOMAS S. GILBERT, of the village of Birmingham and county of New Haven, in the State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Corsets, of which the following is a specification:

This invention relates to ladies corsets, furnished with garment-supporters for sustaining the weight of the clothing or skirts at the waist.

The invention consists, first, in a garmentsupporter, constructed of twin-wire, or its equivalent, by bending the same so as to form suitable supporting projections, and attached to the corset by one or more eyelets passing through the web of the twin-wire. The invention consists, secondly, in so bending and attaching a garment-supporter of' twin-wire, or its equivalent, as to constitute it a spring, to render the corset, to some degree, elastic around the waist.

A combined corset and garment supporter, with or without the elastic featurelast referred to, isad'vantageous, in that it is adapted to be manufactured and sold at a low price, and the attachments are not liable to be disarranged or broken; also, in that the garment-supporters or combined garment supporters and springs, in any preferred form, are adapted to be readily appliedto ready-made corsets.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a rear elevation of a corset furnished with,

combined garment supporters and waistsprings illustrating this invention. Fig. 2 is a perspective view, and Fig. 3 a longitudinal section, illustrating a different form of garment-supporter, constructed and attached according to this invention. Fig. 4 is a perspective view, and Fig. 5 a longitudinal section, illustrating another modification. Fig. 6 is a perspectiveview, and Fig. 7 a longitudinal section, illustrating still another modification. Fig. 8 is a fragmentary face view on a large scale, partly in section, and Fig. 9 is a transverse section on the line 9 9, Fig. 8, illustrating more clearly one mode of attaching the improved supporters.

. A corset, C, to constitute'the basis of the present manufacture, may be of any approved make. In order to adapt the same to aflord vertical support to the garments or skirts of the wearer, the corset is provided on each side with one or more garment-supporters, or combined garment-supporters-and springs, G, of twin-wire, or equivalent material, attached by eyelets 43 passing through the web of the twinwire, and through one or more. of the thicknesses of fabric of which the corset proper is composed.

In the illustrative corset represented at Fig. 1, two combined garment supporters and springs are arranged at the back of the corset on each side of the lacing-strips, and another pair more nearly at the sides of the corset over the hip enlargements. In one preferred form here represented, the strips of twin-wire are bent into a spiral coil, and its respective ends are attached by rivets in parallel longitudinal lines with the ends a short distance apart laterally. The resiliency of the wires, tending to draw the ends together, renders the waist of the corset as furnished therewith I to some degree elastic, while the coils form eflicient supporting projections.

In the modification illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, a garment-supporter, G, is formed of two short pieces of twin-wire, united by a metallic clasp, c, and suitably curved to form a supporting projection of the desired shape, the clasp 0 providing for adjusting the same as to prominence, if required. The projection is thus formed by one end of each piece of twin-wire, and the supporter is attached by a -single eyelet, z, passing through the other ends and through the thickness of the corset.

In the modification represented in Figs. 4 and 5, a garment-supporter, G is formed by a single strip of twin-wire bent so as to form at one end a supporting projection of approved pattern, and attached by two eyelets, 7;, passing respectively through the upper and lower ends of the strip. 7

In the modification illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7, a garmentsupporter, G, iscomposed of a single strip of twin-wire with a supporting loop of peculiar shape formed at its lower end by rebending the same and attaching it to the main portion of the strip by a metallic clasp, c, by means of which the prominence of the projection may be increased or diminished, if desired, and the supporter in this form is attached by a single eyelet, i, passing through the upper end.

The attaching ends of the supporters may be simply applied externally to the corset, as illustrated in Fig. 1 or they may be supported laterally within the pockets 1), formed between the thicknesses of the corset, as illustrated in the other figures; or pockets to receive the supporters may be formed by strips attached externally to the corset.

In each of the modifications the attaching eyelet or eyelets 13 pass between the wires, or

their equivalents, by which the material of the supporters is stiffened, as illnstrated'most clearly in Figs. 8 and 9. The twin-wire, or its equivalent, thus accommodates eyelets, and provides for or facilitates the employment of this convenient and efficient metallic fastening. This invention is not limited to the employment or use of what is now known as twinwire; but cords, or strips of fibrous or other material, of suflicient stifi'ness, flexibility, and strength, may be employed in lieu of metallic wires in the material, if preferred; The supporting projections may also be of a great variety of forms, and either adjustable, as to prominence, or wholly fixed, as illustrated.

In the illustration, the corset is not provided with suspenders; but the employment of suspenders of some approved pattern is contemplated and preferred, the same-to be attached to the corset in any preferred way.

The following is claimed as new in this invention, namely:

' 1. A garment-supporter,constructedoftwinwire, and attached to a corset by one or more eyelets passing through the web of the twin-.

wire, substantially as herein shown and described.

2. Acombined garment-supporter and spring for corsets, composed of twin-wire in the form of a single coil attached at its respective ends by eyelets passing through the web of the twin-wire, substantially as set forth.

THOMAS S. GILBERT.

Witnesses:

DAVID TORR-ANOE, ELL. S. SMITH. 

